Although a container of paint or other highly viscous liquid may appear empty, the container may actually have a significant volume of material adhering to the inside walls and bottom of the container. An apparently empty pint can of paint may actually contain 1-3 ounces of paint remaining in the can. An apparently empty quart can of paint may actually contain 3-4 ounces of paint. High volume custom painting operations, such as auto body shops, go through many pints and quarts of paint in a single day. If the residual paint in the apparently empty paint cans is not salvaged and reused, this wasted paint may represent a significant and unnecessary expense.
Nevertheless, many people will simply discard an apparently empty container of paint or other highly viscous liquid. In many cases, the individual does not realize the significant volume of material left in the container. In other cases, the individual does not wish to take the time and trouble of scraping the residual paint from the container. Accordingly, many have sought to simplify and expedite the process of recovering residual paint and other liquids from a nearly empty container.
Various scrapers, scoops and spatulas have been proposed for removing residual viscous liquids from a container. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,128 issued to Shea discloses a scoop that can be used to scrape the sides of a container and collect the residual liquid in the scoop. The curved bottom edge of the scoop, which matches the curvature of the inside wall of a container, can be used to remove residual liquid from the side of the container. The scoop, however, cannot effectively and simply clean the bottom of the container. The scoop also suffers from the disadvantage that residual paint will collect in the curved inner portion of the scoop, which must itself be cleaned of residual material. The scoop is also overly complicated in design for its intended purpose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,635 issued to Young also discloses a tool with a protrusion with a curved edge that matches the curvature of the inside wall of a container. This trowel, however, is rigid in structure and does not provide the benefits of a conventional flexible spatula. The trowel also suffers from the same deficiency of being unable to effectively clean the bottom of a container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,868 issued to Baggenstos and U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,515 also disclose tools that attempt to effectively clean a container. These tools, although offering the benefits of a flexible spatula, do not provide a curved portion that matches the curvature of the inside wall of a container. Thus, these tools provide no means for effectively collecting the residual liquid on the side of the container or for scooping the liquid from the container.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a tool that can effectively clean and remove residual paint and other viscous material from the curved sides of a container.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a tool that can effectively clean and remove paint and other viscous material from the flat bottom of a container.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tool with the flexible attributes of a conventional spatula, although improved in performance and design.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a tool that is easy to clean of residual paint that collects on the tool.
Finally, an object of the present invention is to provide a tool that is economical to manufacture, simple in design and refined in appearance.